Over the course of the past four or five months I've had the pleasure of guiding a group of excellent students into the world of what we call "Neo-Ericksonian Hypnosis."

(A short explanation for the name is simply that we teach what we can of Erickson's approaches and also add understandings from NLP and host of other post-Ericksonian's like Stephen Gilligan, Bill O'Hanlon and others, hence "Neo-Ericksonian".)

In the course of this beginning exploration we viewed several videos of Erickson doing hypnosis demonstrations with a variety of clients.

In very few of the videos did Erickson tell much of anything that would be commonly classified as a story.

So where were they?
Where were these "Ericksonian Teaching Tales?"

It appeared to our viewing eyes and listening ears that Milton told quite a few illustrative anecdotes rather than longer form stories, and never doing what people could these days refer to as guided imagery.

As an example, in the famous "Monde" video, part 2, the longest story Milton told Nick and Monde was the anecdote about the pain management patient and the imaginary tiger.

That was all of 16 sentences long – which even at Milton's slow rate of speech when doing hypnosis was about a minute of clock time.

Most of the anecdotes Milton employed in this video were two or three sentences long.

Like this one:

"As part of Arizona and the total learning of Arizona, the Indian meets the rattlesnake and says, 'You go your way, little brother, and I go mine.' And both the snake and the Indian are dignified and right. And each goes his way in dignity, in security, in comfort, with respect."

So, interestingly, it would seem that the notion of storytelling in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, has spawned a great deal more emphasis on story telling than Milton himself actually did.

This is a very nice development and perhaps a perfect example of why the term "neo-Ericksonian Hypnosis" is appropriate in describing what most practitioners inspired by Erickson's work are doing today.

The Essential Coaching Skills Podcast

Since this week’s recording didn’t survive the technology gods, (it had nothing to do with "user error") I thought I’d point you back to two recent episodes that keep coming up in my work with clients.

They’re about things most of us already know, but still struggle to live.

Episode 1: Why Knowing What to Do Rarely Changes Behavior
Most people aren’t stuck because they lack insight.
They’re stuck because insight doesn’t regulate the nervous system.

In this episode, I talk about why willpower is unreliable, why motivation fades so quickly, and why new habits often feel strangely uncomfortable even when we want the outcome. There’s a story about the artist Chuck Close that illustrates how showing up consistently has very little to do with feeling inspired.

If you’ve ever wondered why good intentions keep falling apart, this one will feel familiar.

Episode 2: Safety Before Success

This conversation looks at what happens when your goals make sense intellectually, but your body quietly resists them.

I walk through why the nervous system always gets a vote, how safety determines follow-through, and why change can trigger avoidance even when the change is positive. We also explore practical ways people learn to create enough internal safety for momentum to build naturally instead of through pressure.

This episode is especially useful if you find yourself starting strong and then inexplicably backing away.

 * Of course - these episodes are also available for your listening pleasure wherever you get your podcasts (Apple, Spotify, etc. etc)

Storytelling is one of the fastest ways to bring clarity to coaching. That’s why I wrote The User’s Guide to Storytelling to give you a toolkit for telling stories that bypass resistance and move clients forward. Every copy comes with a bonus online class ($347 value).

Get your copy here →

Thanks for being here! 

Enjoy your day and I hope to see you soon. 

Doug